Portland Bicycle Accident Lawyer

Portland, Oregon is “Bike Town USA”. It is the only city on Forbe’s Top 10 Most Bike-Friendly Cities in America that received a platinum bike score by the League of American Bicyclists, the highest rating available. Portland currently has five bike-friendly bridges: Broadway, Steel, Burnside, Morrison, and Hawthorne. In the summer of 2012, the combined daily bike traffic on those bridges was a staggering 18,794. Generally, the city is one of the most bike friendly in the country, with many marked bicycle lanes running through it. PBOT found that 6% of commuters in the city bike to work. This is 10 times the national average, making it the highest of any major city in the United States. The city’s biking culture encourages residents to “go green” by riding their bikes to work. Recognizing that bicyclists of a lesser skill level might feel nervous about sharing roads with vehicles, Portland has experimented with different initiatives to increase safety for bikes and other vehicles:Cycle Tracks place a line of parked vehicles in a land between traffic and cyclists. If a cyclist wishes to make a turn at an intersection, they pull up in a designated green box, dubbed a “launch pad,” and wait for a green light. There is a small buffer zone between the parked vehicles and bike lane marked with white diagonal lines to allow the safe opening of car doors and exiting of vehicles.Buffered Bike Lanes place the bike land back next to traffic, but place a buffer zone in between designated by white diagonal lines. Proponents prefer this method to Cycle Tracks because, without a line of parked vehicles in between lanes, bikes are more visible to drivers.

Portland bicyclists are reasonably precautionary when it comes to safety. 2012 figures showed that 86 percent of women wore helmets, compared to 76 percent of men. A heightened awareness for green commuters on the roads encourages cyclists and motorists alike to pursue their commute more cautiously.

The number of bikes in Portland is only expected to increase. Rose City’s Bicycle Plan for 2030 contemplates Portland becoming a world-class bicycling city in the next two decades, modeling itself on success stories such as Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Protect Yourself in the Event of a Portland Bicycle Accident

If you have suffered because of a bicycle accident in Portland, you need to contact Richard Rizk, Attorney at Law right away. Call (503) 245-5677 for a free consultation.

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